Homecoming
For those who don't know, (if you don't you've never heard my pro-Thunder rants or listened to my music), I'm from a small town in Southern Oklahoma called Ardmore. I lived there the first half of my life, till I moved to Baton Rouge in 2002 to go to Southern University for college (Go Jags!!!), and I've been here every since.
Oklahoma has a unique history for a southern state, west of the Mississippi, below the Mason Dixon, no legal history of enslavement of African people. At one point it was considered Indian Territory, a place set a side for the Indigenous peoples of this continent colonizers renamed North America after. After slavery was made illegal post-Antebellum, there was a bill proposed that was gonna split Oklahoma in two, with one half being Indian Territory for Native people, and an all Black state called Oklahoma territory. White folks voted it down, and they ended up letting colonizers have a land run to claim what was supposed to be sovereign for it's original owners.
That's some ol' bullshit.
Thousands of African people had escaped the Peculiar Institution of Chattel Slavery in neighboring states, as well as those who relocated to the area after the Civil War to work in a climate similar to the places where they were formerly enslaved on plantations in the Deep South. At one point, Oklahoma had more all Black town than any state in the country, only a few are left standing, a few in Southern Oklahoma where I'm from. I'm saying all this to say, when people think of Oklahoma, they think Western movie style Cowboys and Indians, not the struggle for justice & equity, the fight against White Supremacist Oppression, financial prosperity (Black Wall Street, more on that later though), or people of color. I come from that, and I rep it proudly. Black and Red people are my people.
I haven't done a lot of shows in Oklahoma, so it meant a lot to me to come back home to the state where I fell in love with the culture of Hip-Hop. Oklahoma has never had too many nationally famous Hip-Hop acts. Nitro had a few hits that made it to Rap City, Johnny Polygon reps Tulsa internationally, and Jabee is currently the biggest rapper out of Oklahoma on a national level. Though I haven't lived in Oklahoma in nearly 17 years, and I actually claim Baton Rouge as the birthplace of Marcel P. Black the artist, it matters to me to be respected in the place where I wrote, recorded, and performed my first raps.
The last show I did in OKC was summer 2015, wasn't a good one. I did my first show in Tulsa in September '16, and started my tour for "Seven" there in September of '17, but had a mad difficult time doing shows there in '18. In fact I saw 5 of my #FadeTheFlowSundaysAlumni get booked in my beloved homestate last year, and tho I'm happy my guys got to travel, I felt a way I wasn't getting no calls from nobody. So I had a minor Facebook tantrum, and had 2 shows booked in both cities by that evening.
Look at God.
Originally I was gonna fly up, but with us moving to a new home in between Thanksgiving and Christmas my money was looking funny. So I decided to catch that sliddab. The plan was to drive to Dallas and do a show, then OKC, then Tulsa back to back to back. Well Dallas fell through on me, so myself and my right hand man/Director of Function decided to catch that ride to Ardmore the day before OKC so we wouldn't be tryinna drive 10 hrs the day of the show. Ya'll know in my last post I talked about the sugars I've been dealing with, but this time another deadly MF grabbed me by the ankle, had me all messed up.
Damn You Braums!!!
I've been a great steward of my calories, blood sugar, carbs, etc. This is why I've lost 42 lbs in 3.5 months. But I haven't figured how to keep my sodium down. So while I ate healthy the whole ride up to Ardmore, saving my calories up so I can eat me some Braums, my right ankle had no idea what was about to happen. Mane I had enough calories left to get me a double quarter pounder, some fries, AND enough sugar left to get me an ice cold cherry limemade.
Lawd have mercy. *speaks in tongues.
Mane that shit was delicious. but bruh, not 30 mins after I smash the last bite, mane my ankle swoll up so damn big it don't make no sense. Any way I try to move it I'm in pain. That mothereffer gout don't caught the Gawd slippin. My daddy goes to Walmart at 12 am to get me some organic cherry juice, and drank half of that sour ass juice like it's Gatorade asap. My mama gives me a walking cane she got in Jamaica. I try to get up and I break the wooden handle. She gives me a metal cane, I hobble my fat ass to the back room and go to sleep. Foot on swoleasabih.com.
The next morning I remember I had some pills in the whip from when I had nerve issues in my left elbow. In the words of Mouse On The Track, "throw me back, throw me back like a quarterback." On top all this, I have an appointment to get my hair cut in OKC by my big cousin Greg, and we need to put this dresser my mama got for my new crib in the fan. Oh yeah, it snowed the night before in Oklahoma. It's cold than a MF outside, and the ground is super soft. My foot is too bad to help move it, so I offer to pull the van around so they can move the dresser from the house to the van easier. Mane picture why the van get stuck in the mud!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?
So now my dad and Mark are pulling out all the stops to get me unstuck, and I'm virtually helpless in the cause. After 20 mins of struggle, they find some gravel to put under my tires. I'm able to pull in the street so they can put the dresser in, and now we're off. We get to OKC an hour after the appointment, so we wait. Get a cut, and by that time my foot finally goes down.
The Show Must Go On
We pull up to the venue, and it's dope. There's 3 full bodied women in the car in front the venue reppin they asses off to something that Cardi B would prolly approve of. And I'm #TeamBardi all day, so I was there for it. I meet the homie L Smooth, the dope emcee and promoter for the show tonight. Buddy was very accommodating, literally made me feel at home during my homecoming show. I have 3 of my childhood friends from Ardmore pull up, I'm super excited.
First act is a brother from Texas, solid performance, good ass boom bap. The next emcee was a Native American brother, type heavy set. I just new he was gonna rap over vox, mane was I wrong. Buddy was snappin and it made my heart so proud. Living in Louisiana, I mostly see just Black, white and Lightskinted people, so see so many Indian's enjoying Hip-Hop made me really happy to be home, proud to be an Oklahoman. Buddy was wild limber on stage, and his hypeman was lit af. Dope set. Next was the homie L Smooth, who has some of the coolest boom bap production I've heard from anywhere in the country. His "Pillowcases" record his a bop fareal fareal.
Now I go up. My Ardmore friends know Bryan Williams, Broom, Bufu even, but they don't know Marcel P. Black. Hit em with the acapella, they bite, but are still tryinna figure out what's going on. Start off with "Bad Man" & it's hilarious because BR is a God fearing college football coach and instead of saying "Bad Motherfucka" he's says "Bad MotherMucka" on the call & response portion. Next is "Black God Fresh," and I can't lie ya'll, I was really feeling myself. I had some camo Polo jeans, and olive green long sleeve Polo shirt with a hoodie, a camo Polo hoodie, with my Russell Westbrook Jordan 1's, and a new Mitchell & Ness OKC Thunder snapback. Feeling & looking good, foot not acting stupid, so I'm rapping and performing good. I rock "Henry Clay," they fool with it. On "Hallelujah," they all saying "Fuck Donald Trump," except BT of course. Now it's time to go to church, so it's "FreeBlackPPL" and "Stare & Whisper" Devotion.
"Nigga, it's lit!!!"- Anonymous
The best thing about the show was being able to bring people who I grew up with from as early as our mothers walking together while pregnant into my world. They hit it off with Mark, so it was lit. I normally don't drink on the road for health, safety, and financial reasons, but it ain't everyday I have my day ones with me on the road, so of course we go to "throw ones." We get there kinda late, so I go full steam ahead buying Hennessy & Red Bull doubles for us all. My potna told me there don't be know Black girls at this particular spot, let's just say was he wrong, boy was he wrong.
Whew.
Next think you know, in true Ardmore nigga fashion, we end up in Denny's, I'm eatin all out my diet, but it's lit. I have the time of my life, no complaints on anything. Until I wake up the next morning with a swollen ankle, but that's for part 2 of this to be continued head ass story...
Ratings
Venue: 4/5. Dope venue.
Crowd: 2.5. If there was one bad thing, it was a lack of a crowd. The Native American emcee brought a crowd, but alot of them dipped after him. Which left me rapping for about 15-20 people. I say this with no shame because all indie/underground touring emcees have this happen, and if it's never happened to you before, it's because prolly rap over vocals at pay to play open mics. The crowd wasn't bad at all, they were very responsive, but mane sometimes it's a fight to maintain that high level of energy in front of so few people. I still did work tho. Thank you for the ones who did stay.
Merch Sales: 3. For a smaller crowd at the end of the night, I did OK. Plus people came and shopped before my set, so that's always a plus.
Sound: 3.5. Good sound, though I was told the music was too loud during my set.
Set List
"Black God Fresh" (Unreleased)
Next Show
1/5/19 in Tulsa, Oklahoma
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